This morning I had to quick type in my breakfast cookie recipe to a friend on Facebook. There were other requests for my version of this so I said I would post it here. I don't have any pictures to put with it right now, but the next time I make them I'll get pictures up too.
1 cup white sugar-I use a scant 1 cup
1 cup peanut butter-all natural no sugar added
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup water
2 Tablespoons of vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup almond meal
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cup rolled oats-I use the honey ones
1 cup of mini chocolate chips-original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cup of raisins, however, the kids don't like raisins so we use less mini chocolate chips.
6 cups of toasted oat cereal rings
1st Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
2nd In a very large bowl,(I use the regular Kitchen Aid Mixer and it maxes out this bowl with a single recipe), mix together the sugar, peanut butter, butter, apple sauce, water, vanilla and eggs until smooth. It helps if all butter, including peanut butter, and apple sauce are room temperature. Then add the flour, almond meal, baking soda and salt mixing while adding. (If you are into dirtying extra dishes those can be combined 1st then added, however, it has worked fine for me to not do this.) Mix in the oats and chocolate chips and then carefully stir in the cereal. The cereal is what really pumps up the volume and starts to go over the edges of your bowl a bit.
3rd Drop by 1/2 cupfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet. Space them out so that there are only 5 per cookie sheet. You then need to pat them down until they are about 1 inch thick.
4th Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cookies are lightly browned at the edges. Check them earlier if your oven tends to run hot. Let stand on the cookie sheets after removing for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Store at room temperature.
Andy likes these with raisins and if I make two batches I will make one batch for him with raisins and a few chocolate chips and a batch for just the kids. A1 will eat the ones with the raisins, just after all the ones with only the chocolate chips. The original recipe said you could substitute the raisins out for chocolate chips or dried cranberries.
With the changes that I made the nutritional makeup changed as well. I only wrote down the following information, but could retype it into my recipe program and check to see other things if you want that. Per cookie 464 cal, Net Carbs(Total Carb-dietary fiber) 50g, Protein 14g
I love having these in the house because then I don't have to think hard about breakfast. They will typically just grab one of these. They also like them for snacks. I don't have cost calculated out per cookie because I typically get the organic cereal and things on sale and/or in bulk.
Enjoy everyone!!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Not forgotten
Just a quick note to let everyone know that I haven't forgotten about the final part for planning. We started school on the 9th and then went on vacation the next week. So between getting school planning done and setting up workboxes for that I haven't had time to blog. I'm hopeful that I can get to it this week, however, just a heads up the garden is ready for the salsa to be made, my Mom just dropped off three, five-gallon buckets of pears to do and the green beans need checked/picked every day. So hopeful is a great word to use.
In the meantime, I hope y'all are having a great week. I'll work hard to get to it at the beginning of the week, maybe while the salsa is processing in the water bath??
In the meantime, I hope y'all are having a great week. I'll work hard to get to it at the beginning of the week, maybe while the salsa is processing in the water bath??
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Planning Year 3 Part 2:The Secret of the Pop Quiz-for Mom
I don't know how many of the TOG(Tapestry of Grace) families purchase the Pop Quizzes. I am just putting in a huge plug for them. They are awesome!!! Not just for the Dad's to listen to so that they know what is going on and can ask discussion questions at supper or when they are hanging out, but also for busy Mom's to listen to if they don't have time to read the TN's(Teacher Notes) Background information. I learned that sweet, sweet lesson last year and have loved them for me. I listened one morning while I was working in the kitchen, our day was packed and I didn't know how I was going to get ready for discussion the next day. It was great! After listening to the weeks recording, I had an excellent idea of where things were going and what was happening. I then, later, did have time to read the Background info and it was almost verbatim to the Pop Quiz. I have also had the kids listen to the Pop Quiz in the mornings after they have their readings all done, sometimes they pick up new things from the discs too and discussion happens over breakfast with the new ideas.
For this year's planning, since I am having to mesh the D and R level together, I have looked through the Threads, and through the reading assignments to get an idea on the amount of reading at each level for each week. I had allergy shots this last Thursday, a 2 hour drive one way, so I popped the CD in and got through the first 6 or 7 weeks of the first Unit. That really helped me to see what the different levels were and how I need to mesh them together for more cohesion. A2 was in the back seat, because he needed his shot also, and he was listening in for some of it. He thought it sounded like we were going to have an interesting year.
Today I'm going to go through all the books on our shelves, which compared to some of you is a drop in the bucket, looking for ones that repeat for this year and culling the ones that don't. Those will be getting sold and then I'll sit down again and look at the way the weeks go to decide which books I'll end up needing. I can write on my pages, thanks to the DE part, so that I know for sure what I'm assigning each week for reading. I will actually be highlighting that material. I know right now that the D level spends more time on Napoleon than the R level so the different weeks that it is in R level, I'm going to have to read both to see how that can be moved around to fit at the same time(overlap) with the D level at the appropriate time frame of D studies.
That is the next step in my process. Hope this helps you to see where I'm head too. Try out the Pop Quiz CD's I bet you'll love them too.
For this year's planning, since I am having to mesh the D and R level together, I have looked through the Threads, and through the reading assignments to get an idea on the amount of reading at each level for each week. I had allergy shots this last Thursday, a 2 hour drive one way, so I popped the CD in and got through the first 6 or 7 weeks of the first Unit. That really helped me to see what the different levels were and how I need to mesh them together for more cohesion. A2 was in the back seat, because he needed his shot also, and he was listening in for some of it. He thought it sounded like we were going to have an interesting year.
Today I'm going to go through all the books on our shelves, which compared to some of you is a drop in the bucket, looking for ones that repeat for this year and culling the ones that don't. Those will be getting sold and then I'll sit down again and look at the way the weeks go to decide which books I'll end up needing. I can write on my pages, thanks to the DE part, so that I know for sure what I'm assigning each week for reading. I will actually be highlighting that material. I know right now that the D level spends more time on Napoleon than the R level so the different weeks that it is in R level, I'm going to have to read both to see how that can be moved around to fit at the same time(overlap) with the D level at the appropriate time frame of D studies.
That is the next step in my process. Hope this helps you to see where I'm head too. Try out the Pop Quiz CD's I bet you'll love them too.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Prepping for Year 3 of Tapestry using DE
I am sitting here printing things out in order to plan for Tapestry Year 3 and thought, I probably should blog about this as I go. So far nothing has been the same in preparing from year to year. This year would have been, until the Lord brought to my mind that A1 has never studied this time in European History and parts of the American History we will cover. It also was brought to my attention, God is so good, that A2 will not be getting this time period of history again either as he is a freshman this fall. Enter panic into my thought process. "A1 needs to get the facts and things that are at the Dialectic Level, but still needs the synthises of putting it all together and making the bigger picture connections of how history is still affecting us today and cementing her beliefs about it. A2 needs both of these too. If I have them do all of both levels they will hate me, school and life.(Thinking like a teenager here)" Enter sanity in the form of my TLT friends who are filled with wisdom and love to share and help. After gleaning from them, my year just got a bit more complicated, however, the kids year should end up with just the right balance of both. I will be weaving the two levels together according to what is being taught in both each week. We've always done both discussions together so that won't be new, however, assigning reading and work from both levels without overwhelming them will be new. So I'm going to write down how I'm doing this for future reference, since I'll probably have to do the same thing next year, and to help anyone else coming along after me through this.
Since I have the DE(digital version) and I have to move so much between levels on the threads and reading levels I am starting by printing both of these things out so I can mark them up. To be most economical about it I am printing the Threads into a book by printing back to back. I am also doing it in gray scale with black only ink. While I love color, it isn't essential to my planning as I'll be highlighting the final way I'm wandering through Tapestry this year. (There will be a brief pause while I finish this up and decide if I'm using color for the next step or not.)
Actually, I digress. I next printed in gray scale, black ink only, the Unit Introduction notes for the year as well. Between reading these, looking through the threads, and listening to the Pop Quiz CD's when they get here, I should have an excellent idea on where to weave at. If I'm not sure for the week, then I'll read the Teacher Notes(TN's and background) for the week in question off of the DE screen on the computer.
I know some are wondering why I didn't just get the print version or the print/DE version. Here is the logic behind this. I don't need it all. I only need some things. I probably could have gotten by without printing the Unit Intro's, but I wanted to be able to take this to bed and read there and it is easier to read paper in bed then off a laptop. I love the DE version for the search-ability. I think this year instead of printing the kids Student Activity Pages, I'm going to put them on a flash drive either edited to word or have them do that so that they can type their answers on their computers. If they need them printed then they can do it. That is my thoughts on that part of it. A1 uses her laptop for everything and A2 likes to use his too. He is all about not wasting paper so that might work well for him too.
To print color or no color that is the question, whether 'tis nobler or...oops, not Shakespeare, but color it is. The kids may have to refer to these charts in case something goes weird with the whole workbox system we are also going to try this fall.
So all of those things are printed and I've actually read the Unit Intro's for the whole year. It is going to be an exciting year. Today I'm going to start through the threads, highlighting the things that I feel are most important for them to get. To start I'm going to use yellow for things I think we should do and then go back and refine with blue so that everything we are going to do will be in green. Then, I'll coordinate that with the reading assignments for the week and start checking to see which books we have.
I might be busy for a few days or so, but this is where it is starting. Somewhere during this I really need to get the rest of the painting finished around here too.
Have a great day everyone!
Anita
Since I have the DE(digital version) and I have to move so much between levels on the threads and reading levels I am starting by printing both of these things out so I can mark them up. To be most economical about it I am printing the Threads into a book by printing back to back. I am also doing it in gray scale with black only ink. While I love color, it isn't essential to my planning as I'll be highlighting the final way I'm wandering through Tapestry this year. (There will be a brief pause while I finish this up and decide if I'm using color for the next step or not.)
Actually, I digress. I next printed in gray scale, black ink only, the Unit Introduction notes for the year as well. Between reading these, looking through the threads, and listening to the Pop Quiz CD's when they get here, I should have an excellent idea on where to weave at. If I'm not sure for the week, then I'll read the Teacher Notes(TN's and background) for the week in question off of the DE screen on the computer.
I know some are wondering why I didn't just get the print version or the print/DE version. Here is the logic behind this. I don't need it all. I only need some things. I probably could have gotten by without printing the Unit Intro's, but I wanted to be able to take this to bed and read there and it is easier to read paper in bed then off a laptop. I love the DE version for the search-ability. I think this year instead of printing the kids Student Activity Pages, I'm going to put them on a flash drive either edited to word or have them do that so that they can type their answers on their computers. If they need them printed then they can do it. That is my thoughts on that part of it. A1 uses her laptop for everything and A2 likes to use his too. He is all about not wasting paper so that might work well for him too.
To print color or no color that is the question, whether 'tis nobler or...oops, not Shakespeare, but color it is. The kids may have to refer to these charts in case something goes weird with the whole workbox system we are also going to try this fall.
So all of those things are printed and I've actually read the Unit Intro's for the whole year. It is going to be an exciting year. Today I'm going to start through the threads, highlighting the things that I feel are most important for them to get. To start I'm going to use yellow for things I think we should do and then go back and refine with blue so that everything we are going to do will be in green. Then, I'll coordinate that with the reading assignments for the week and start checking to see which books we have.
I might be busy for a few days or so, but this is where it is starting. Somewhere during this I really need to get the rest of the painting finished around here too.
Have a great day everyone!
Anita
Monday, June 14, 2010
Winding up the year
As we get ready to wind down this our 3rd year of home schooling, I am amazed at all the we are all learning. This includes me as well. I haven't just learned or relearned the academic things, but things about me and things about the kids.
I have learned that I need to not sweat the small stuff quite so much. That part of that process is letting natural consequences fall into place and watch everyone learn the life lessons. I still have issues with remembering this and following through with it, but I think it is getting better, maybe. I'm sure I'll have to continue to work on it. I've learned that I have got to stick to a schedule for me. If I follow it, I'll get my Bible reading in, workout in and seem to get more work done. The days I don't have a list or schedule of things I seem to wonder around. Yet, even in knowing this I still must remember to be flexible and open to things not happening like I plan them and go with the flow, following the path that the Lord has lead me down for the day. I am noticing things that I need to make sure that the kids know how to do; cleaning, maintenance, finances(not too much), cooking. I need to teach them and then let them do it; learning to let it go if they know what to do, expecting them to do it like they've been taught. I've learned that time goes so very fast with the kids home. I've got 5 years, 4 as Austin reminds me since it is the end of the year, before they are both gone and in college. I have got to remember to have fun with them while they are here, grounding them in their faith and in knowing that home is always where they can turn to. I have one summer left with Austin home before he joins the summer work force to enjoy my "little guy", who absolutely isn't so little anymore.
A1, my little girl, has grown up so very fast. She has learned to do better with her time management. She has more to learn, but improvement has been made and she is excited to try something new to help with it. She has grown in her relationship with the Lord and letting Him make decisions in her life. She has shown persistence, discipline, courage and lots of heart in fighting for her possible spot on the varsity team for volleyball this year. She has literally paid for it not just with her money for the extra club team practice this last year, but also in blood, sweat and tears with the pain of the dislocated knee and rehab done in order to get back to being able to tryout doing all movements. She has learned that age is just a number doing her service project with the women's sewing circle at church where she is the youngest girl there. Most are older than even her grandmothers, yet she she such a fun time with them and loves each one. The feeling is totally reciprocated. She is still my girl, not tomboy, for sure. Her highlight so far this month was her day shopping at Michigan City with her cousin and my Mom. They both spent all that they took. She had a list of what she wanted and truly found some great bargains. She was so excited the night I broke out the nail polish for my toes for the summer. She suggested this purple or blue; I declined for red and she thought that was fine too. Most of the time my jewelry gets put back, the pink necklace and earrings though are usually found upstairs on her vanity if they aren't on her person.
A2, my "little guy", has grown both physically and matured in his walk with the Lord too. He is far from little, being the 2nd biggest person in the family, only surpassed by his Dad, my "big guy". He loves being taller than his sister and does like to reminder her that he is taller. Soon, Andy will have extra shoes as right now the guys wear the same size shoe. I am so amazed that my "little guy" is not so little anymore. I tell him he will always be my "little guy" no matter how big he gets. He is still so in to his flying and wanting to do missions flying. Free reading will find him with his nose in some sort of book on aviation and/or drawing and calculating things for planes he has drawn. He is following his dreams by going to a camp this summer for missions aviation. He has gotten a special waiver to go because he is just one year too young. His interest, reading and ability to focus on all things aviation allowed the waiver to be given. He is learning from his Dad all about Authentic Manhood. He is getting better about rejecting passivity & accepting responsibility. These are the two that I can encourage. It is amazing that when I ask for something to be done or if something has been done, with just a reminder of these two phrases the response that I get. He has applied himself to his quizzing studies more this year and has seen the benefits from the extra time applied to this study.
As you can see, we have all learned a lot of different things. Together we are having fun, for the most part, in this learning journey. Some of the harder lessons are hard, but we are learning to lean on each other more, including the kids going to each other. I'm excited as we wind up the year and look forward to the next year to see all that we will get to learn.
I have learned that I need to not sweat the small stuff quite so much. That part of that process is letting natural consequences fall into place and watch everyone learn the life lessons. I still have issues with remembering this and following through with it, but I think it is getting better, maybe. I'm sure I'll have to continue to work on it. I've learned that I have got to stick to a schedule for me. If I follow it, I'll get my Bible reading in, workout in and seem to get more work done. The days I don't have a list or schedule of things I seem to wonder around. Yet, even in knowing this I still must remember to be flexible and open to things not happening like I plan them and go with the flow, following the path that the Lord has lead me down for the day. I am noticing things that I need to make sure that the kids know how to do; cleaning, maintenance, finances(not too much), cooking. I need to teach them and then let them do it; learning to let it go if they know what to do, expecting them to do it like they've been taught. I've learned that time goes so very fast with the kids home. I've got 5 years, 4 as Austin reminds me since it is the end of the year, before they are both gone and in college. I have got to remember to have fun with them while they are here, grounding them in their faith and in knowing that home is always where they can turn to. I have one summer left with Austin home before he joins the summer work force to enjoy my "little guy", who absolutely isn't so little anymore.
A1, my little girl, has grown up so very fast. She has learned to do better with her time management. She has more to learn, but improvement has been made and she is excited to try something new to help with it. She has grown in her relationship with the Lord and letting Him make decisions in her life. She has shown persistence, discipline, courage and lots of heart in fighting for her possible spot on the varsity team for volleyball this year. She has literally paid for it not just with her money for the extra club team practice this last year, but also in blood, sweat and tears with the pain of the dislocated knee and rehab done in order to get back to being able to tryout doing all movements. She has learned that age is just a number doing her service project with the women's sewing circle at church where she is the youngest girl there. Most are older than even her grandmothers, yet she she such a fun time with them and loves each one. The feeling is totally reciprocated. She is still my girl, not tomboy, for sure. Her highlight so far this month was her day shopping at Michigan City with her cousin and my Mom. They both spent all that they took. She had a list of what she wanted and truly found some great bargains. She was so excited the night I broke out the nail polish for my toes for the summer. She suggested this purple or blue; I declined for red and she thought that was fine too. Most of the time my jewelry gets put back, the pink necklace and earrings though are usually found upstairs on her vanity if they aren't on her person.
A2, my "little guy", has grown both physically and matured in his walk with the Lord too. He is far from little, being the 2nd biggest person in the family, only surpassed by his Dad, my "big guy". He loves being taller than his sister and does like to reminder her that he is taller. Soon, Andy will have extra shoes as right now the guys wear the same size shoe. I am so amazed that my "little guy" is not so little anymore. I tell him he will always be my "little guy" no matter how big he gets. He is still so in to his flying and wanting to do missions flying. Free reading will find him with his nose in some sort of book on aviation and/or drawing and calculating things for planes he has drawn. He is following his dreams by going to a camp this summer for missions aviation. He has gotten a special waiver to go because he is just one year too young. His interest, reading and ability to focus on all things aviation allowed the waiver to be given. He is learning from his Dad all about Authentic Manhood. He is getting better about rejecting passivity & accepting responsibility. These are the two that I can encourage. It is amazing that when I ask for something to be done or if something has been done, with just a reminder of these two phrases the response that I get. He has applied himself to his quizzing studies more this year and has seen the benefits from the extra time applied to this study.
As you can see, we have all learned a lot of different things. Together we are having fun, for the most part, in this learning journey. Some of the harder lessons are hard, but we are learning to lean on each other more, including the kids going to each other. I'm excited as we wind up the year and look forward to the next year to see all that we will get to learn.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Taking Time-final transfer from other blog
I hope you enjoy this post transferred from my other blog. As you all know I have a hard enough time keeping up with just this one blog. Enjoy. My major projects on the house are almost done as is school mostly so I'll have more time, maybe. We'll have to see what happens with that.
It has been quite awhile since I last posted. Life has been so busy that time has gotten away. This leads to lesson number two.
Time. We all need it and use it on a daily basis. We also have it taken from us to do with as we would chose by kids, spouses and family, commitments that we could have turned down, but instead chose to say yes to, emergencies that pop up "out of nowhere". With all of these things pulling us in so many different directions, there is one person who doesn't clamor for our attention. He is a gracious friend who waits patiently for us to realize the importance of our time spent with Him; my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and God the Father.
As I diligently went out each day to pull at the weeds and misplaced flowers in our front bed, I was surprised at how much time that it took to get a small section done. I also realized the sense of joy and accomplishment that I felt at the progress that I made. As a couple of days turned into a couple of weeks and my new friends at the Tapestry of Grace Loose Threads group were getting worried about all the weeding that I was doing, I was relishing the quite time spent listening to my God speak with me and to me. You see, I had planted the wildflower mix into this particular bed for the sole reason of not having to weed it all summer to keep it looking nice. We have a couple of other beds with wild flowers in them that I just love. However, this particular bed just didn't look right with the flowers even though they were put there it just wasn't where they were suppose to be(another lesson). The shrubs in it were hidden by the flowers and they weren't really growing because they weren't getting the water and light that they needed to grow.
This was a two by four to the side of the head moment. I can't grow right either in my walk with the Lord if I am not planted in the right conditions. I must have light and water and air and time from and with my Lord if I am to thrive. In order to do this I must weed out the nasty weeds, and beautiful flowers that may just be planted in the wrong place or time frame in my day for me to get the nourishment I need to grow and thrive.
I won't tell you that I have accomplished this consistently yet, that would be lying and I don't do that. I am getting better. I am learning to really look at something to see if it takes away time from my family which would cause me to juggle them to another slot and squish out my time for my Lord. That part is going fairly well.
Now I just need to be as diligent about keeping my time commitment with my Lord as I was with getting out to work in that flower bed this summer. That is a goal for me to do and achieve before the end of this year. How about you? Are you getting watered and weeded(lesson number 3) on a daily or weekly basis, outside of church?
My Lord waits each day to meet with me and yet do I meet with Him or do I stand Him up. How do I expect to grow and bloom and bear fruit if I am not making my date with Him each day? Now it is time to put into practice this first step that I was told this summer. Look how patient my God is. That is such a small comparison to how much I know that He loves me.
He's waiting to meet with you too.
Have a great week everyone.
1 comments:
coachmom said...
Anita,
I'm so glad that you take the time to see God in everything around you. I have often used weeding to help me grow in my relationship with God. I look at it like this...when we clean out all the bad things from our lives, we leave room for all the beautiful things to take root and grow. But don't look at my yard as any proof of this analogy, ok?
Love,
Coach Mom
October 24, 2008 6:43 AM
It has been quite awhile since I last posted. Life has been so busy that time has gotten away. This leads to lesson number two.
Time. We all need it and use it on a daily basis. We also have it taken from us to do with as we would chose by kids, spouses and family, commitments that we could have turned down, but instead chose to say yes to, emergencies that pop up "out of nowhere". With all of these things pulling us in so many different directions, there is one person who doesn't clamor for our attention. He is a gracious friend who waits patiently for us to realize the importance of our time spent with Him; my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and God the Father.
As I diligently went out each day to pull at the weeds and misplaced flowers in our front bed, I was surprised at how much time that it took to get a small section done. I also realized the sense of joy and accomplishment that I felt at the progress that I made. As a couple of days turned into a couple of weeks and my new friends at the Tapestry of Grace Loose Threads group were getting worried about all the weeding that I was doing, I was relishing the quite time spent listening to my God speak with me and to me. You see, I had planted the wildflower mix into this particular bed for the sole reason of not having to weed it all summer to keep it looking nice. We have a couple of other beds with wild flowers in them that I just love. However, this particular bed just didn't look right with the flowers even though they were put there it just wasn't where they were suppose to be(another lesson). The shrubs in it were hidden by the flowers and they weren't really growing because they weren't getting the water and light that they needed to grow.
This was a two by four to the side of the head moment. I can't grow right either in my walk with the Lord if I am not planted in the right conditions. I must have light and water and air and time from and with my Lord if I am to thrive. In order to do this I must weed out the nasty weeds, and beautiful flowers that may just be planted in the wrong place or time frame in my day for me to get the nourishment I need to grow and thrive.
I won't tell you that I have accomplished this consistently yet, that would be lying and I don't do that. I am getting better. I am learning to really look at something to see if it takes away time from my family which would cause me to juggle them to another slot and squish out my time for my Lord. That part is going fairly well.
Now I just need to be as diligent about keeping my time commitment with my Lord as I was with getting out to work in that flower bed this summer. That is a goal for me to do and achieve before the end of this year. How about you? Are you getting watered and weeded(lesson number 3) on a daily or weekly basis, outside of church?
My Lord waits each day to meet with me and yet do I meet with Him or do I stand Him up. How do I expect to grow and bloom and bear fruit if I am not making my date with Him each day? Now it is time to put into practice this first step that I was told this summer. Look how patient my God is. That is such a small comparison to how much I know that He loves me.
He's waiting to meet with you too.
Have a great week everyone.
1 comments:
coachmom said...
Anita,
I'm so glad that you take the time to see God in everything around you. I have often used weeding to help me grow in my relationship with God. I look at it like this...when we clean out all the bad things from our lives, we leave room for all the beautiful things to take root and grow. But don't look at my yard as any proof of this analogy, ok?
Love,
Coach Mom
October 24, 2008 6:43 AM
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mother's Day
Today is Mother's Day. The day that we honor our Mothers and as Mothers maybe actually get a bit of pampering too. Each year we typically have both my Mom and Andy's Mom, all the rest of the immediate family is invited too and we do lunch. Usually taco bar or hamburgers on the grill. The treat is the first making in the large ice cream maker of homemade ice cream.
This year is anything but typical for Mother's Day for me, very typical, however, for a mother's normal day. Starting about a week ago with A2 getting sick that accumulated in the removal of his appendix on Wednesday. We got to come home on Thursday to A1 who was fighting a sore throat and her neck was out of alignment. Still wanting to go to volleyball that night, but when she got back from her chiropractor appointment she hangs her head and asks for me to see if she has a fever. Yes, she did. So now I have two kids down, or up as they chose to be in their rooms. A good choice, since A2 really didn't need to "catch" anything from A1. I slept upstairs on the couch Thursday and Friday nights. I knew I would sleep better because I wouldn't be running up and down the steps to check on them if anything was wrong for everything I heard. A2, bless his heart, was afraid I wouldn't sleep very well there and that he would wake me up. I told him that was just part of being a mom, being up at all hours when the kids need you and I explained that this way I wouldn't be trekking up and down the stairs every time I heard something.
Things were running smoothly. While there was no snoring keeping me awake those nights, the wind was something else on Friday night. It had finally died down and apparently God wasn't finished carrying up through the storm when at 4am Andy came up to have me look at "some" hives he had. He told me he already had taken Benedryl about an hour before but was still itchy. His back was covered, like one giant hive. His chest and belly were pretty well covered too. I stayed up with him for about another 45 minutes until he was comfortable and sleepy. He said he didn't have any problems breathing. We tried to figure out what he had gotten into and narrowed it down some. A bit later, 2 hours, Austin was up and needing pain meds. Bless him, he took them and waited for some breakfast while I caught another 1 or 2 hours of sleep.
Saturday, I thought we were on the way out, A1 had been fever free for over 24 hours. A2's pain levels were down. Andy forgot what we thought he reacted to and ate some, so another round of Benedryl which knocked him out for the afternoon. He and A1 went to our church's dinner theatre that evening. He has sound to set up after tear down of the play's sets so they took two vehicles.
I hadn't planned on going to church because I didn't think A2 was going to be ready to try that and I didn't want to leave him home alone, just in case something weird happened. Well all the different eating times and high sugar and high caffenine foods caught up to me very early(2am) Sunday morning. I got up and took some things to make me feel better and went back to my bed. No couch at all that night; both kids had been doing great. Andy came in as he was getting ready for church later and said that A1 wasn't going she thought she was running a fever in the middle of the night. Back to running stairs. I rested in bed a bit, until A2 called me to see what was for breakfast. I did get a thanks Mom and I hope you have a Happy Mother's Day.
So today is not typical Mother's Day. I talked with my Mom on the phone today instead of live. I was glad that both she and my mother-in-law both had told me earlier in the week to just cancel our regular plans. That I should just take the day and rest. Well, while I took the day off, but I'm not celebrating a typical Mother's Day, I am celebrating a typical day for a Mom. I'm taking care of my husband and children, without whom I wouldn't have the honor of being called "Mom" in the first place. When everyone is well, then we'll send a day doing something special and fun. For right now, I'll just hold on to the Lord, who really is carrying me through all this. Thankful for all the prayers of my friends and family.
I hope you all have a Happy Mother's Day, whether you are spending it typically or atypically.
This year is anything but typical for Mother's Day for me, very typical, however, for a mother's normal day. Starting about a week ago with A2 getting sick that accumulated in the removal of his appendix on Wednesday. We got to come home on Thursday to A1 who was fighting a sore throat and her neck was out of alignment. Still wanting to go to volleyball that night, but when she got back from her chiropractor appointment she hangs her head and asks for me to see if she has a fever. Yes, she did. So now I have two kids down, or up as they chose to be in their rooms. A good choice, since A2 really didn't need to "catch" anything from A1. I slept upstairs on the couch Thursday and Friday nights. I knew I would sleep better because I wouldn't be running up and down the steps to check on them if anything was wrong for everything I heard. A2, bless his heart, was afraid I wouldn't sleep very well there and that he would wake me up. I told him that was just part of being a mom, being up at all hours when the kids need you and I explained that this way I wouldn't be trekking up and down the stairs every time I heard something.
Things were running smoothly. While there was no snoring keeping me awake those nights, the wind was something else on Friday night. It had finally died down and apparently God wasn't finished carrying up through the storm when at 4am Andy came up to have me look at "some" hives he had. He told me he already had taken Benedryl about an hour before but was still itchy. His back was covered, like one giant hive. His chest and belly were pretty well covered too. I stayed up with him for about another 45 minutes until he was comfortable and sleepy. He said he didn't have any problems breathing. We tried to figure out what he had gotten into and narrowed it down some. A bit later, 2 hours, Austin was up and needing pain meds. Bless him, he took them and waited for some breakfast while I caught another 1 or 2 hours of sleep.
Saturday, I thought we were on the way out, A1 had been fever free for over 24 hours. A2's pain levels were down. Andy forgot what we thought he reacted to and ate some, so another round of Benedryl which knocked him out for the afternoon. He and A1 went to our church's dinner theatre that evening. He has sound to set up after tear down of the play's sets so they took two vehicles.
I hadn't planned on going to church because I didn't think A2 was going to be ready to try that and I didn't want to leave him home alone, just in case something weird happened. Well all the different eating times and high sugar and high caffenine foods caught up to me very early(2am) Sunday morning. I got up and took some things to make me feel better and went back to my bed. No couch at all that night; both kids had been doing great. Andy came in as he was getting ready for church later and said that A1 wasn't going she thought she was running a fever in the middle of the night. Back to running stairs. I rested in bed a bit, until A2 called me to see what was for breakfast. I did get a thanks Mom and I hope you have a Happy Mother's Day.
So today is not typical Mother's Day. I talked with my Mom on the phone today instead of live. I was glad that both she and my mother-in-law both had told me earlier in the week to just cancel our regular plans. That I should just take the day and rest. Well, while I took the day off, but I'm not celebrating a typical Mother's Day, I am celebrating a typical day for a Mom. I'm taking care of my husband and children, without whom I wouldn't have the honor of being called "Mom" in the first place. When everyone is well, then we'll send a day doing something special and fun. For right now, I'll just hold on to the Lord, who really is carrying me through all this. Thankful for all the prayers of my friends and family.
I hope you all have a Happy Mother's Day, whether you are spending it typically or atypically.
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